Man convicted in deaths of 4 gains appeals victory

Texas' highest criminal appeals court Wednesday ordered reconsideration of testimony in the case of an Alabama man convicted of the execution-style deaths of four people - including a pregnant teenager - during a botched drug transaction.

Judges at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals agreed that the court that conducted Arthur Brown Jr.'s 1993 trial should take a second look at testimony from an expert prosecution witness who tied fatal bullets in the case to guns owned by Brown.

Brown, 45, was one of four men convicted of killing Houston drug dealer Jose Tovar, 32; Tovar's stepson, Frank Farias, 17; Farias' pregnant girlfriend, Jessica Quinones, 19; and Audrey Brown, 21, a Tovar neighbor. Court documents indicate that Brown and his accomplices attempted to buy cocaine from Tovar. When the deal went sour, they tied up their victims and shot them in the head.

Brown was scheduled for execution in October 2013 but received a stay to allow for forensic testing of evidence. An accomplice, Marion Dudley, 33, was executed in 2006.

On Wednesday, the appeals court judges acted on Brown's November 2014 appeal in which he asserted that Houston Police Department ballistics expert C.E. Anderson "testified falsely or in a materially misleading manner" in his case. Judges held that the claim met state standards warranting review.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider Brown's claim that a federal appeals court wrongly denied him funds to hire a mitigation specialist to help prepare a clemency petition.

Allan Turner, senior general assignments reporter, joined the Houston Chronicle in 1985. He has been assistant suburban editor, assistant state editor and roving state reporter. He previously worked at daily newspapers in Amarillo, Austin and San Antonio.